Rail lubricator



Nov. 9, 1937. H. J. PERAZZOLI RAIL LUBRIC'ATOR 2 Sheeis-Sheec 1 Filed March 27, 1956 'INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Nov. 9, 1937. H. J. PERAZZOLI Y 2,098,791

RAIL LUBRICATOR Filed March 27, 1936 2 sheets sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PAT RAIL LUBRIOATOR Application March 27, 1936, Serial No. 71,081

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a rail lubricator and is especially concerned with a lubricating device for a rail of the type having a guard providing a groove adapted to receive the wheel flanges as they travel on the rail. Still more specifically the invention is concerned with a lubricator especially adapted for use on curved rail of the type mentioned, so as to overcome undesirable wear not only of the rails themselves but also of the wheel flanges, and with the further object in view of overcoming the noise frequently produced, for example, by street railway cars turning corners.

The nature, objects and advantages of the invention will appear to best advantage after consideration of certain problems encountered and the manner in which attempts have heretofore been made to overcome certain of these problems and conditions.

In many instances it has been customary to provide for lubrication of curved rail of street railways by manually spreading lubricant within the groove of the rail atifrequent intervals. This, of course, is obviously laborious and in addition it is frequently impracticable to accomplish the manual lubrication often enough to insure against noise and excessive wear.

It has also been proposed to employ a mechanical device, usually positioned below the street level or adjacent to the rail, for delivering lubricant to the rail groove. Certain prior devices of this type have adopted a heavy oil as the lubricating medium and have made provision for the delivery of this oil to the base of the groove, the intention being that the wheel flanges shall carry this lubricant along the rail and thus spread it, particularly around the curved portions.

This prior type of oil lubrication has been proven to have serious disadvantages and to be comparatively ineffective. In the first place, delivery of the oil to the bottom of the rail groove has not resulted in effective lubrication of the side faces of the groove, particularly the side face of the guard for the rail, and I have found that toeffectively accomplish the lubrication in question it is highly desirable to provide thorough distribution and spreading of the lubricant on the inner side face of the rail guard.

Another disadvantage of the prior oil delivery to the base of the rail groove is that the delivery passages constantly become clogged with dirt, grit, etc. Assume for a moment that a stone has become lodged in a rail groove. Upon the passage of a Wheel over the stone, the flange will, of

course, disintegrate the stone and when thisoccurs adjacent an oil delivery passage the result is that the passage becomes badly jammed and, therefore, ceases to perform its intended function. Still further, it is normally to be expected that an accumulation of grit and dirt will occur in the base of the rail groove. This accumulation obviously mingles with the lubricant delivered to the base of the groove and the result is that the wheels shortly act to distribute what, in effect, constitutes a grinding compound which, at times, has been shown to be of such character as to produce more rapid wear than would occur in the complete absence of lubrication.

Still another difficulty heretofore encountered resulted from undesirable splashing of oil especially in warm weather, the result being that oil was caused to come in contact with the rims of the wheels which ride on the rail proper and as a result in contact with the brake shoes. In consequence, braking force as well as traction is lost.

With the foregoing and other problems in view, the present invention provides for utilization of a grease, preferably of the graphite type, which grease is delivered, by means hereinafter to be described, through a passage having its outlet end opening through the inner side of the rail guard at a point spaced appreciably above the bottom of the rail groove. Preferably this lubricant is delivered at a point adjacent the top of the rail guard and I have found by test that on curved track, the wheel flanges coming in contact with the inner side face of the guard effectively distribute the lubricant and further that this lubricant adheres to the surface in a manovercoming various of the other difiiculties men tioned'above, it being noted particularly that lubricationin accordance with the present invention virtually eliminates any substantial mixture of dirt, grit, or the like with the lubricant. The grinding action heretofore encountered is therefore obviated. In addition the improved arrangement avoids the difficulties resulting from contact of the lubricant with the rim of the wheel. In addition to the above the invention has in view the provision of novel means for the delivery of the graphite or similar grease, which means comprise a'pump cylinder and a pump plunger, the latter of which is actuable by the flanges of the wheels as they travel on the rails and operates to deliver a charge of lubricant for each 7 flange of the wheel in passing along the rail reaches the lubricant outlet at approximately the same time that the charge of lubricant is expelled from the outlet.

How the foregoing objects and advantages are attained, together with others which will occur to those skilled in the art, will be more apparent from a consideration of the following description making reference to' the accompanying drawings, in which:--

Figure 1 is, a side elevational view of a portion of a rail, showing portions of the improved lubricator associated therewith;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the features shown in Figure '1 and further illustrating a lubricant reservoir; and

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the section line 3-3 on Figure 1;

In all views. the reference letter R indicates v the rail. For installation purposes, a'box 4 is preferably built below the level of the street (when the equipment is applied in street railway practice), the top of the box being approximately at the same level as-the upper edge of the rail. Within the box a reservoir 5 for the grease is provided and the reservoir is equipped with any suitable means such as a plug 6 for recharging. or refilling, which may be accomplishedby removal of the lid '3; the lid is desirably fastened in place by means of a locking device including looking elements 8 and actuating disk 9 therefor which latter are operable as by means of a 'key which may be inserted through the lid to rotate the disk 9.

The'mechanism further includes a pump unit P which is nested between the rail guard l and oneof the base flanges II, the unit being desirably supported on a flange I l as by a wedge plate l2 7 which may conveniently be welded to the flange. The rail proper, shown at l3 serves to carry the wheels of the vehicles as they pass and as clearly shown in Figure 3 the flange F of the wheel W rides in the groove formed between the rail part l3 and the guard I0. 7 I r In addition to the wedge l2 which may b made of different thicknesses in order to accommodate the device to rails of different heights, the pump unit. includes a cylinder M which is fastened to the wedge I2 by means of studs and nuts I20. In addition, a bolt I20 may be inserted through the base of the cylinder and threaded into the wedge l2. The base of' the cylinder is provided with slots l2b'which provide for move- 'ment of the unitinto position underthe head of the rail in a lateral direction and also for withdrawal of the unit-in the same way.

A plunger I is adapted to move within the cylinder, a packing gland l5a being provided at the upper edge of the cylinder so as to prevent lubricant from coming out of the top end of the.

cylinder on the downstroke of the plunger. The

plunger projects upwardly from the cylinder through a hole drilled through the rail at the base of the groove therein. The upper end of the plunger thus serves as an actuating element for the pump, this upper end being depressed by a flange when a wheel moves past thepoint where the pump unit is located. 7 As clearly seen in Figure v3; the plunger I5 is constantly urged upward by means of a spring l6; w

A pair of connections communicate with the lower end-of thecylinder [4.

One of these, I1,

extends to the reservoir 5 and serves for the of the plunger l5. Check valve 20, however, is

opened under the influence of the upstroke of the plunger and this, of course, draws the charge of lubricant from the reservoir 5 into the'bottom end of the cylinder l4.

The-connection I8 is provided with a casing 2| for a ball-check valve or equivalent device 22 which is inverted with reference to the device in the sense that 'upon the upstrokeof the plunger IS the check valve 22 is closed and upon the downstroke thereof the ball 22 is forced from its transfer of lubricant from the reservoir to the r r seat to permit the delivery of a charge of lubricant through the pipe I8 to the rail.

The degree of movement of the plunger, i. e.,'

the pumping stroke thereof is preferably adjustably limited so as to provide control of the charge of lubricant delivered on each stroke;

For this purpose the plunger I5 is provided with an abutment, conveniently formed by recessing the side of. the plunger as at 23 so as to produce a shoulder 24 (see Fig. 1). The abutment shoulder (24') cooperates with an adjustment disk or the like 25 which is threaded on a shaft 26 positioned and spaced in parallel relation in respect to the plunger [5. A lock nut 25a is provided to secure the disk 25 in adjusted position. The threaded shaft 26 is secured at its lower 7 end to the cylinder l4. With this construction the upward movement of the plunger out of the cylinder is adjustably limited and as a result the effective pumping stroke is thuscontrollable.

rection in which the cars travel on the rail (see p The outlet end of passage.

arrow D in Fig. 1).

This passage, moreover, isdrilled at an 2'! is located approximately at the same level as the upper surface of the rail l3. As best seen in Figures 1 and 2, a distributiongroove 28 is provided in the side face of the guard l0, this groove being extended along the rail from the outlet opening o-f'passage 21 along the upper edge of. the guard ID in the general direction of.

inclination of the passage 21 so'as to cooperate with the wheel flanges passing along 1 the rail H in the direction of the arrow D in spreading the lubricant. Toward its end the groove 28 is curved downwardly somewhat as shown at 28a, this for a purpose to be referred to more fully hereinafter.

In operation, when the wheel W passes over the actuating plunger l5 of the pump, the wheel flange F depresses the plunger and this forces a charge of lubricant through the check valve 22 and through the pipe l8 for discharge at the inner side face of the guard 10. In connection with the operation, it should also be noted that there is a certain time lag in the delivery of a charge of lubricant under the influence of actuation of the pump. In other words, a short period of time elapses from the time the pump plunger is depressed until the time that the lubricant is discharged out of the passage 21. In accordance with the invention, the spacing of the outlet of passage 21 beyond the pump plunger I5 is such that, with a car travelling over the rail at the average speed for that particular portion of the track, the wheel flange reaches the outlet point substantially at the same time as the lubricant charge. This is important since the wheel thus carries away at least a substantial portion of the charge of lubricant delivered and, in turn, this helps to avoid accumulation of lubricant in the base of the rail groove.

The foregoing represents the preferred arrangement in instances where vehicles normally pass over the trackway in only one direction. It will be understood, however, that the equipment is also useful in lubricating rails where vehicles pass over the tracks in both directions.

Movement of the wheel along the rail results in spreading or distribution of the discharged grease by contact of the inside face of the wheel flange F with the inner face of the guard It. This contact tends to force the grease along the length of the groove toward the far end thereof, at which the groove is turned downwardly. The grease is thus directed somewhat downwardly so that a band of appreciable width becomes thoroughly lubricated. It will be noted, however, that this is accomplished without substantial mixture of the grease with dirt or grit, which of course accumulates in the bottom of the rail groove, and further without danger of lubricant splashing on the wheel rim or on the brake shoes.

The mounting of the pump unit P on the base flange l I in the manner described is of advantage since this mounting avoids the necessity of drilling through the web of the rail or tearing up the street at the outer side of the rail (to the left in Fig. 3) when making an installation.

The foregoing arrangement, I have found, materially improves the effectiveness of the lubrication and substantially completely overcomes a number of serious difficulties heretofore encountered.

I claim:

1. A device for lubricating a rail including, in combination with a rail having a groove to receive wheel flanges, a lubricant passage formed in a side face of the rail groove, means for spreading lubricant on the side face of the rail groove including a groove formed in said side face, and pump means for delivering lubricant to said passage including an operating element positioned in the base of the rail groove, said operating element and the spreading means being actuable by contact with the periphery of a wheel flange and the side face of a wheel flange, respectively, during passage of a wheel along the rail, and the operating element being offset from the spreading means lengthwise of the rail in a direction in advance of the spreading means with respect to the normal direction of travel on the rail.

2. A device for lubricating a rail including, in combination with a rail having a groove to receive wheel flanges, a lubricant passage formed in a side face of the rail groove, and pump means for delivering lubricant to said passage including an operating element positioned in the base of the rail groove, said operating element and the outlet opening of said passage being positioned for cooperation, respectively, with the periphery of a wheel flange and with the side face of a wheel flange, during passage of a wheel along the rail, and said outlet opening being spaced beyond the operating element, with respect to the direction of travel of the wheel, a distance such that, at an average rate of travel of the wheel on the rail, the wheel flange reaches said outlet opening substantially at the same time as the charge of lubricant delivered by the pump means as a result of actuation of the operating element by said wheel.

3. A device for lubricating a rail including in combination with a rail having a groove to receive wheel flanges, a lubricant passage formed in the side face of the rail groove, pump means for delivering lubricant to said passage including an operating element positioned in the base of the rail groove, said operating element and the outlet opening of said passage being positioned for cooperation, respectively, with the periphery of the wheel flange and with the side face of a wheel flange, and said outlet opening being spaced beyond the operating element with respect to the direction of travel of the wheel on the rail, and a lubricant distribution groove formed in a side face of the rail groove, communicating with the outlet opening of said passage toward one end and extending therefrom in a direction away from the operating element for the pump means.

4. A device for lubricating a rail including, in combination with a rail having a groove to receive wheel flanges, a lubricant passage formed in a side face of the rail groove, pump means for delivering lubricant to said passage including an operating element positioned in the base of the rail groove, said operating element and the outlet opening of said passage being positioned for cooperation, respectively, with the periphery of a wheel flange and with the side face of a wheel flange, during passage of a wheel along the rail, and said outlet opening being spaced beyond the operating element, with respect to the direction of travel of the wheel, a distance such that, at an average rate of travel of the wheel on the rail, the wheel flange reaches said outlet opening substantially at the same time as the charge of lubricant delivered by the pump means as a result of actuation of the operating element by said wheel, and a lubricant distribution groove formed in a side face of the rail groove, communicating with the outlet opening of said passage toward one end and extending therefrom in a direction away from the operating element for the pump means.

HENRY J. PERAZZOLI. 

